Diane C.

I am an Ivy-league trained English Professor with over 25 years with a particular expertise in academic writing and publishing. I have served as a reader and a member of the editorial boards of several academic journals and presses, and have read admission essays for graduate and undergraduate programs and for national and international fellowships and scholarships. (Please note that my rate for graduate and undergraduate admissions work is 120 an hour. See below from my description of those services). I will have also successfully guided clients in obtaining competitive professional grants, including NEH, Mellon, SRI and Fulbright, as well as book contracts with presses such as UC Berkeley, Stanford, U of Chicago, Cambridge and Oxford. I also have extensive experience in the academic promotion process, having been a department head and serving on my college's APT committee. While I have an expertise in academic writing, here on Upwork I have helped writers complete and publish essays in a wide range of fields, including business, fintech, medicine, law, self-improvement and fiction. I can help with all aspects of the process, from how to start a book to how to write a proposal and secure a publisher. I offer a 10% discount to those who are the first in their families or adjunct faculty. See below for specific information on my services and rates. DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR & WRITING COACH $95 an hour As a developmental editor and writing coach, my goal is to help get your writing into the world, whether you already have a manuscript and a contract from a press or simply a rough idea of something you'd like to write. I will meet you where you are and help you with any and every stage of the writing process--from the brainstorming and planning stages to the writing, revising and final editing to responding to reader reports and reviews and securing publication. I am particularly good at taking a very rough, rough draft--or even a rough idea--and helping a writer massage it into a compelling and well-structured narrative. I am also quite good at helping writers who find themselves "stuck" in a particular project and need help crafting a plan to move forward. THESIS AND DISSERTATION EDITOR AND WRITING COACH $95 an hour Writing a dissertation is hard, I know! I wrote one myself and, as an English professor for over 20 years, I helped shepherd many students through the process. Unfortunately, not every graduate program provides their students with the kind of guidance and structure that most of us need for taking on a project of this size. That is where I come in. I taught graduate level writing for many years and have supported graduate students working in a variety of fields, including the social sciences, humanities, technology, business and finance, computer science and education. I am a fast and careful proofreader and line editor, proficient in a number of citation styles, including MLA, Chicago, Oxford m, Harvard and APA, and able to carefully follow the publishing guidelines of the press you are working with. I am also conversant in a number of national Englishes. However, my talents really lie in helping clients with larger holistic issues, including argument development, organization and structure, and responding to committee feedback. I’m also especially good at helping writers who get stuck in a project or are suffering from writer’s block. My mantra is that a done dissertation is the best dissertation and I can help you craft a plan to make that come to fruition. COLLEGE AND GRADUATE ADMISSIONS ESSAYS $120 an hour As an English professor for 20+ years, I am especially attuned to what admissions materials need to contain in order to be effective. I have sat on a number of admissions committees and served on the selection committees for a number of national and international scholarships and fellowships. I have a particular expertise in graduate admissions and my clients have been accepted into several competitive programs at top schools, including Harvard, UC Berkeley, Stanford, the Wharton School of Business, Cornell and Yale, among others. I have supported clients in a wide range of fields, including medicine, law, the humanities, social sciences, counseling, nursing (including several DNP applicants), and public policy. I can help you prepare your CV and writing samples (if required), as well as prepare for any standardized tests or interviews. But where my expertise really lies is in the statement of purpose. The SOP is especially important since at some point in the admissions process everyone has good grades, laudatory recommendations and exemplary test scores. I have a proven system of helping even clients who think they can't write create compelling and organic narratives that tell the story of who they are and why they are a great match for a program.